Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Will the Leader invite the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Creed, to come to the Seanad as soon as possible to debate a new pilot scheme? The closing date for the receipt of applications under the beef environmental efficiency pilot scheme for farmers with a single suckler cow, known as BEEP, was last Friday, 22 February. Given that it had opened on 4 February, it is a very restricted pilot scheme. A farmer has to weigh his or her single suckler cow and calf.There is a grant of €40 per cow, less the cost of hiring the scales, not to mention getting the cow onto them. Cows are large animals, weighing between 600 and 800 kilos, and weighing them is very difficult and quite dangerous from a health and safety point of view. Under the scheme, it is not very rewarding. A significant number of farmers are saying the scheme is bull and that they are going to bin it because it does not reflect the crisis faced by suckler cow farmers in terms of the cost of production. Fianna Fáil has proposed a €200 per animal single suckler cow payment under a scheme with no red tape. The Government will have to respond on the issue because every time Fine Gael is in power, it introduces really elaborate schemes which ensure farmers do not receive a fair return. It can be proved that the best Ministers and agricultural schemes have been introduced by the Fianna Fáil Party-----